Palma's best balconies

Submitted by Stephen White on January 8, 2019 - 09:44

Superb architectural drawings

Mallorca has some truly superb architecture with examples of styles and techniques from many different epochs including Gothic, Modernism, and Rationalism. Just take a stroll around Palma and let your eyes stray upwards from the street level shops, bars and restaurants and marvel at what lies above.

The structure and decoration of the facades of the buildings are incredible and are crowned with the works of art that are the balconies. The intricacy and ornateness of the artisans' work on the balconies, with themes of fantastic animals, fruits, flowers, guilds' emblems and so on is sometimes just too much to take in at one glance.

Thanks to Ferran Forteza, a local graphic designer and architecture aficionado, we can now see all the detail of some of Palma's most beautiful balconies in a very simple form. He's produced a series of drawings to highlight the beauty of the balcony and the skills involved in its design and construction by the architects, carpenters, iron-workers and so on.

The drawings' simplified form; flat, without perspective, and against a plain background allows us to see only the important detail without the distraction of its surroundings. Ferran says that he selects the balconies that “have a certain architectural grace and a certain something that calls his attention.”

He photographs the balcony, and after a certain amount of rumination, produces the drawing. And what drawings they are! I think they'd look wonderful framed and enhance the walls of any study or den, and would make a great postcard.

All the ones he's produced so far are on a website Balcons de Palma and they all have the addresses so you can actually find the original buildings. Take a look, they're really good.